Finance Ministry to become 100% shareholder of gas transmission system

"At this stage, the state has the task to carry out the so-called unbundling – to separate the GTS system operator and certify it in accordance with the requirements of the European energy community – by January 1, 2020. To do this, the GTS operator must be removed from the Naftogaz group and transferred to a ministry. It was determined that it would be the Ministry of Finance as a 100% shareholder of the GTS operator. The Parliament currently considers a bill stipulating that privatization, lease, concession or any other kind of alienation of the GTS is forbidden and impossible," Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Yulia Kovaliv said at a press conference, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The state, represented by the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, will have full control over the GTS operator at this point, the official stressed.

"In any case, [unbundling] is our need not only in terms of investment attractiveness. We need to have a separate and independent operator in view of the energy market," Kovaliv said.

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